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Derrick Rose ‘tried hard’ to Sign with Spurs, Clippers

Cleveland is starting to engage in trade talks to move All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, and the possibility grows every day that [Derrick] Rose could be afforded a significant role on these Cavaliers. Just a year ago, Rose still believed he could earn a $20 million a year long-term deal, but he accepted a one-year, $2.1 million veterans minimum deal. To regain his footing in the NBA, Rose wanted a real team with real games.

“A one-year deal on a bad team to try and put up numbers — we did not want to entertain that way of thinking,” agent B.J. Armstrong, a three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls, told ESPN on Tuesday. “Getting up every day to go to the gym to just try and put up numbers — that’s not who he is. He didn’t want to chase anything this summer other than, ‘Hey, let’s get around a group of guys who are like-minded, who are pursuing winning and be a part of that.'”

Rose tried hard to get top Western Conference teams to sign him — the San Antonio Spurs, the LA Clippers — but those teams passed. Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd had interest, but the Los Angeles Lakers and Cavaliers eventually made offers. Teams drafted point guards (Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers), and re-signed starters (Toronto Raptors and New Orleans Pelicans) and found veterans on the market (Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves). When his old Bulls coach, Minnesota’s Tom Thibodeau, chose Jeff Teague over Rose, it felt as if the market had bottomed out on him.